Just when I was geared up for my workout, I checked that my phone had just 5% battery left. That meant, a high probability of working out without music. Indeed, a disappointing, demotivating proposition.
I started considering postponing my workout after charging the mobile phone battery. But there was another voice within that reasoned, “I already have the training gear on. If I play music, maybe the batteries will last for half the session. And that’s not perfect but it doesn’t sound that bad…”
I decided to go ahead with the second idea. Maybe the training clothes helped me overcome the lure of postponing and procrastinating thoughts. But very well, I started training and playing music. 20 mins into the exercise session, I was expecting the battery to go dead at any moment. But it didn’t. 40 mins and then 55, well I was almost about to finish my training and then finally decided to check the battery percentage. And voila! It was still 2% left.
Immediately I realized that the battery scarcity was only in my mind. And if that was just an error in judgement, then basing my decisions on it was even more ridiculous! The 5% battery proved to be just as enough as would have 30%, 75% or 95% battery. Perhaps, I was actively looking for the smallest hint to postpone or cancel the activity at hand? Umm… hmm.
Don’t we all do this? If we have 30 minutes to leave for work and have something to do for the day, that probably wouldn’t take more than 15 minutes, we simply overlook the available time; stating that “there isn’t enough time right now…”
It could be writing down that email or making that phone call. Or in case of an important task that seems overwhelming, we quickly dish out the phrase, “Oh no! It’s evening already. There isn’t enough time for a task as important as this!”
Now let’s expand this timeframe. We keep ‘that activity’ off the week’s schedule because the current week is just ‘too full’ for any important activity like this.
Don’t we also do it for the projects over the year? Yes, you want to learn that language, but it would take ‘some time’ and you don’t want to begin it this month, because you are too occupied with other things. An important task like this deserves ‘special time when all is done.’
Do you realize the trap we descend into with these reasons that we give ourselves? Because almost all important tasks are a bit overwhelming or at least that makes us more conscious than we normally are, we find the reasoning sound.
Do we not check our phones because we have the bus scheduled in the next 10 minutes? Or do we not have a look at 10 minutes of the Netflix series while gulping down the breakfast? Of course, we do.
We try to fill in the gap to not do the task at hand with this reasoning because we are waiting for ‘the right moment.’ But most of the time we are just procrastinating. More often than not, beginning a task at that instance is all we need to get started. And it’s not long before we recognize that it didn’t really take that long as you had expected it beforehand.
Make a list of all the tasks or projects that you’ve suspended or postponed stating that you are waiting for the right time. Maybe, most of them don’t need that special of an occasion, to begin with.
As the famous proverb goes:
“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best is now.”
How about giving a chance to the remaining 5% battery today?
Maybe that’s more than you need!?
Just perfect.
This was not I was expecting to read but this is what I was supposed to read for the day.
Postponing has merely became a habit, this is the time to start before that 5% battery becomes more less.
I just updated my ToDo list after reading this. 🙂
Story of my Lifestyle aswell…
Buy its good to know that everyone is struggling and we are all sitting in the same boat. For instance reading this article needed a lot less then 5% but I still postponed it for months. Its always the things that you know are good for you, which get postponed. I love how you can make a short story about all the little things in life. Very few people notice such things. But you do and you write about it. 👏🏽